Navarre routs Dothan, Ala., on homecoming

All season long, the Navarre offense has proven to be a force to be reckoned with.

On Friday, the Raiders’ defense did the same, converting an early blocked punt into a touchdown to help ignite a 49-24 rout of visiting Dothan, Ala., on homecoming night.

“That was certainly a big key in the game, as far as momentum, getting that blocked punt,” Navarre coach Jay Walls said. “The other thing too is they had a bad snap on another punt, and that gave us great field position in another situation.

“Our defense shut down their running game and brought pressure on the quarterback. Our D-line did a great job, our linebackers, on blitzes that we ran.”

Clinging to a 14-10 lead in the second quarter, the Raiders had the Tigers facing fourth-and-14 from their own 10-yard line.

The ensuing punt attempt was batted down before being scooped up by Tevyn Stevenson who rolled into the endzone for a touchdown to give Navarre a 21-10 lead.

“I was just coming up to block it from the outside and I didn’t get to it quite yet,” Stevenson said. “Then I saw the ball and I just ran and jumped on it. I was just going for it and it happened to be in the endzone.

“I was like ‘I scored a touchdown.’ I just started going crazy. We all started going crazy.”

After trading possessions back-and-forth, the Tigers started their final drive of the first half from the Navarre 38 yard line.

With four seconds left on the clock and Dothan threatening on first-and-goal from the 1 yard line, the Raiders defense again stepped up to stuff the run twice as time expired.

“I was proud our kids, as far as keeping their poise,” Walls said. “And I’m really proud of the way our kids worked coming off a loss and the way they prepared this week.

“I thought our kids handled it really well and got ready to win.”

With a two-score lead to fall back on, the Navarre offense came out hot in the second half, driving 87 yards on 12 plays to score on a six-yard run from Michael Carter, his second of three touchdowns on the night.

The Raiders then proceeded to score on each of their next two possession, tacking on a final TD — a 48-yard run by Hasaan Williams in the fourth — to cap the game.

“Whenever we’re able to run and throw the football with some success, it’s worked out good for us,” Walls said. “I thought our O-line did a good job of protecting our quarterback. He didn’t get hit much, I don’t recall any sacks.

“Our motto coming into this game was, ‘Play the next play.’ If they get a great play or we make a bad play, just play the next play. I thought our kids did a great job with that.”